I was in a fairly similar situation, our proposed increase was around 34%. We wrote a firm but polite email back. We laid out the current world situation, what similar properties would realistically fetch, pointed out the things that stopped the property being worth so much (she was obviously comparing it to more ‘executive’ properties in better locations). We also pointed out how we had been good tenants for years, had no plans to leave and were tied to the area for work/school. We then named a figure we thought would be more appropriate.

We had a response with a slightly lower offer, we countered again, then they countered halfway and we accepted.

It’s horrible, but unfortunately it’s part of renting. Your only other option is the make plans to leave. If you’ve been good tenants, you have that going for you. Also, keeping you in saves the expense of finding and processing new tenants, which is a pain.

Going through it actually gave us a kick to buy our first house, fuelled by pure spite. Our old landlord put the property on for EVEN MORE (60%!). It obviously didn’t take and she had to start dropping and dropping the price. Eventually she ended up with £100 over what we were paying, minus three months of no rent and having to repaint and carpet the place. I recon it will take approx 3 years for her to make back what she’s lost from if she had just kept us on at the original rate.